Fairy Godmother
By Yankee01754
An hour before daylight in Slim and Jess' bedroom.
"Hey! What happened to the rip in my sleeve?" Jess wondered as he put on a shirt he'd caught on a piece of barbed wire the day before.
'"I reckon your fairy godmother must have come in while you were asleep and fixed it for you," Slim joked.
"Fairy godmother?"
"Yeah. Daisy." Slim grinned. "She's kind of like a fairy godmother in those fairy tales that I used to read to Andy and Cam Ramsay. The fairy godmother changed Cinderella's pumpkin into a carriage, her mice into horses, her horse into the driver, her dog into a footman and her ragged gown into a new one - complete with glass slippers. We've seen a lot of changes since Daisy came to stay with us or haven't you noticed?"
"Yeah, we sure have! Like new socks!" Jess was ecstatic when he found socks in his drawer that weren't full of holes or badly mended with knots that he stepped on every time he moved. "I never did get the hang of darning them good," he admitted to Slim who was equally pleased. "Where do you suppose they came from?"
Slim pulled on a new pair of pants. "I never see her in here but somehow I think Daisy just knows even if we try to hide them. The old ones disappear and new ones appear just when we need them. The same goes for our worst looking pants and shirts. They magically turn into new ones."
An hour after dawn - breakfast on the table:
:"Pass the hotcakes, will you Mike?" Jess asked their ward.
The youngster did so. The Texan nodded his thanks and proceeded to help himself to six of the eight plate sized disks on the platter.
"Hey! Save some for the rest of us!" Slim protested.
As he helped himself to the two that were left Daisy appeared from the kitchen with another platter loaded down with them.
"Don't worry, dear, I made enough batter to fry enough for all of us - even Jess," she laughed.
"Daisy, I don't know what we'd do without you. Jonesy couldn't feed Jess enough and he hates my cooking."
"It is a bit of a challenge to keep you all fed but I manage. As long as the supplies last." She smiled at her "son".
An hour later - Slim and Jess at the door putting on their hats and gun belts:
"Daisy? We won't be back until late," Slim said. "We have to move that one herd from the high country down to the lower pasture and fix the fence. If you need anything send Mike to get us."
Daisy came around the corner from the kitchen carrying two paper bags and a small sack.
"Don't worry dear, we'll manage. Ben's here to take care of the teams." She handed each of them one of the bags and gave Slim the sack. "Here are your lunches and there's coffee, cups and the coffee pot in the sack."
The tall blond rancher, and then his shorter, dark haired partner, leaned down to kiss her cheek.
"Thanks Daisy. We'll be back this afternoon. Before supper.," Slim told her. "Mike you stick close to the house and help Ben and Daisy you hear?"
"All right."
Straight up noon - North Pasture by the East road fence
"Time for lunch, Jess," Slim said to his partner. The smell of woodsmoke and hot coffee floated on the air reminding him of the time. "Let's see what Daisy packed for us."
Jess grabbed the cups and poured for himself and Slim. Then he sat down and opened his sack lunch.
"Fried chicken! Biscuits!"
"Yeah, and sugar cookies and she even packed a small crock of butter and a table knife to spread it on the biscuits," Slim grinned. "Daisy really went all out."
"Sure beats the lousy sandwiches we used to put together before she came along," Jess sighed.
The two hard working ranchers ate their lunches and put it on the fire to be disposed of. Once it was thoroughly eliminated they put the fire out making sure they smothered it with dirt to ensure it stayed out.
Mid afternoon - barn yard
"Sure is hot out here," Jess said as he and Slim worked at repairing the broken wheel on one of the stages.
"Sure is. I'm kinda thirsty," Slim agreed. "How about you?"
"Now that you mention it, I sure am,"
"Here you are Slim," Daisy appeared seemingly out of nowhere with a tall, cool glass of freshly squeezed lemonade for both of them.
"Daisy, you're a lifesaver!" Slim said. "I was just wishing I had a cold drink."
"Nonsense!" the woman laughed. "You've been working hard. I knew you'd be needing a cool drink. We had the lemons on hand so I made up some lemonade for us. Mike's having a glass with some cookies for a snack in the house right now. When he comes back outside give him the glasses and he'll bring them inside to be washed."
Late afternoon - barn yard - last stage coming in
"Coffee in the house, if you'd care for a cup while we change the teams out," Slim told the passengers.
The five men, and one woman, gravitated toward the front door where Mike stood waiting just inside to show them to a seat at the table. The youngster was cleaned up, hair neatly combed and dressed in freshly laundered pants and shirt.
In the kitchen Daisy loaded a tray with cups and saucers which she handed to Mike. The boy took them to the table and put one at the place of each passenger asking them if they wanted coffee or something cold. All decided on coffee so he went back to the kitchen for the cream and sugar while Daisy brought out the coffee pot and a plate of cookies.
Fifteen minutes later a satisfied group of passengers re boarded the stage and it headed off down the road to travel the twelve miles to Laramie.
"There's something else we have to be thankful for," Jess said as the stage drove out of the yard.
"What's that pard?"
"Passengers who don't complain about the cooking or the lack of cookies and such. And it's all Daisy's doing." the Texan replied. "They never got that worked up over Jonesy's cooking. If they got worked up over ours it was to complain about how bad it was."
"You're right," Slim agreed. "We owe a lot to our fairy godmother."
"There you go with that fairy godmother talk again. I'm gonna have to read that story so's I know what you're talking about."
"I'll see if I can find the book for you," his partner said. "Andy put it aside somewhere when he and Cam got too old - or so he thought - for such stories. You know from experience that Cam still likes them once in a while."
Late afternoon - main room of the house
"Daisy? Have you seen that letter I was writing to Cam? I found a couple of things in the Laramie Gazette I wanted to put in with it before I mailed it." Jess wasn't much of a letter writer but he and Cam Ramsay had been pals since the time Slim and Jess stayed with them on their way home from Willow, Colorado. She was the only person, besides his sister, Francie, that could get him to write anywhere near on a regular basis. He had started a letter to her and thought he'd finish it before supper.
"It's on the mantle over the fireplace. Buttons, and Jingo, were chasing the cat. If I hadn't moved it it would have been lost or destroyed." Daisy smiled at him, her blue eyes twinkling. She knew Jess was trading jokes and riddles. There was a running wager - in secret of course - between Slim and Gordon as to who would defeat whom first with the riddles they were sending.
"What swims and has six pockets?" Jess said to himself as he wrote the joke on the page he was finishing up.
"A pool table," Slim answered him with a laugh as he came into the room.
"All right wise guy, you know the answer. Just don't tell Cam, okay?"
"I wouldn't dream of spoiling your fun," his partner laughed. "I have one to add myself."
"Yeah?" Jess' eyes lit up. "Will it stump her?"
"I don't know but I'm sure she'll get a kick out of it and so will Gordy."
"Well, what is it then?" Jess was impatient.
"What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?"
Jess shrugged.
"Frostbite!"
Jess burst into laughter. "She'll love that one!"
"She'll probably figure it out, with no trouble, but it gives her something to spring on Gordy - or maybe her classmates."
Supper time - 6PM - in the main room
Slim was eminently pleased at the condition of the house as he, Jess and Mike went to take their places at the table. The floors were cleaned, furniture dusted, rugs straightened out. The ashes were cleaned from the fireplace and the windows sparkled. The aroma of fresh baked pies competed with the smell of their dinner. Their fairy godmother had been busy. And she'd probably had just a little help from the youngest member of the household.
The table was laden with a big pork roast, a bowl of mashed potatoes, a platter with ears of corn plus a dish of beets fresh out of Daisy's garden as well as a basket of biscuits.
The family sat down to the table and Jess, in particular - as usual according to his partner - loaded his plate up and proceeded to stuff himself silly as Hannah McAllister would put it. Slim just stared. Jess' appetite never ceased to amaze him. You'd think the Texan had two hollow legs.
Daisy got up from the table about halfway through the meal. As she did Jess snared the last biscuit from the basket just as Slim reached for it.
"Did you have to grab the last one/" he asked Jess. "I was about to take it."
"Sorry pard," Jess grinned at him. "But it's like you said - you gotta be quick on the draw to beat me to them."
Slim mock scowled at him and called, "Daisy! We're out of..."
Daisy came back to the table with a basket full of biscuits and placed it on the table in front of her eldest with a smile and a wink.
"...biscuits. How do you do that?" he asked. "How do you always know when Jess grabs the last whatever and manage to put more on the table for the rest of us? Hotcakes this morning, at breakfast, and now the biscuits at supper."
Daisy just smiled at him and took a biscuit for herself and refilled Mike's milk glass.
"How does she do that?" Jess wondered to himself. "How does she always know?"
An hour and a half later - Slim sitting at his desk - Daisy washing dishes - Mike helping and Jess sitting in his favorite rocking chair
Slim sat at his desk with a sigh. "I better get at the bookkeeping. I've had the worst time getting to them and when I do I'm so tired I keep making mistakes."
There had been one day, he was working on the books and Jess was sewing a button on one of his shirts, that he'd added the same column four times and gotten a different answer every time.
He opened the ledger and turned to the page he needed to update only to find all the bills and receipts he'd been working with safely tucked into appropriately marked envelopes and the books up to date.
"How?"
He looked at the neatly filled in ledgers and noticed that it wasn't his handwriting - it was Daisy's. His face lit up when he saw that everything was filled in and they were showing a small profit - both for the stage line and the ranch itself.
"Fairy Godmother!" he whispered to himself. "My fairy godmother has my books neat and up to date and we're showing a profit." Looking toward the kitchen he yelled "Daisy, I love you!"
In the kitchen Daisy just smiled. To her it was a privilege, an honor and a joy to do things to keep her new family happy. Keeping the books up to date for the hard working Slim was one of them as well as keeping them all fed and decently clothed and the house cleaned up.
Looking around at all the changes in the now neat house, Slim sighed with pleasure as he rose from his desk and took a seat near Jess. He noticed the same contended look on his partner's face.
Nine PM - Mike's bedroom
"Have you brushed your teeth? Washed up? Said your prayers?" Daisy asked as she tucked the youngster into his bed for the night.
"Yes, Aunt Daisy."
"Then close your eyes and go to sleep. I'll see you in the morning."
"Ok."
"Is he asleep?" Jess asked as she returned to the main room.
"Yes, I think so," she replied. "He works hard at his chores and he plays hard too. He's pretty tired by the end of the day no matter how much he protests." With a sly look at the Texan she added, "Much like somebody else I know whose eyelids are starting to droop right about now."
"I think that's a hint, pard," Slim laughed. "Come on, time to hit the hay." Looking at their surrogate mother he added, "Don't you stay up all night, Daisy. That shirt can wait until tomorrow."
"I'll be going to bed shortly," she assured him. "Good night, dear. Good night, Jess."
The two men went to their room and prepared for bed. Slim neatly laid his clothes out to have them ready to put on in the morning.
Jess simply dropped his jeans and shirt and boots on the floor next to his bed before climbing in and pulling the covers up.
The sweet smell of lavender tickled their noses as they settled in under the sheets. One more thing about a fairy godmother, Slim thought, was having sheets that were washed ironed and smelling of fresh air, sunshine and lavender. A far cry from the days when Jonesy and Andy did the laundry or he and Jess after Andy was sent off to school in St. Louis with Jonesy as a guardian/chaperon. He heaved a contented sigh and drifted off with a sleepy "good night" to his partner who was already sound asleep.